The 2024 campaign for President Joe Biden blasted the Democratic "bedwetters" calling on him to should drop out after his poor debate performance last week, saying the ensuing chaos would become the "best possible way" for former President Donald Trump to win.
"First of all: Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee, period. End of story. Voters voted. He won overwhelmingly," Biden deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty said in an email to supporters. "And if he were to drop out, it would lead to weeks of chaos, internal foodfighting, and a bunch of candidates who limp into a brutal floor fight at the convention, all while Donald Trump has time to speak to American voters uncontested."
Flaherty's email was targeted against the Democratic panic that ensued during and after Biden's first debate of the 2024 election season with Trump on Thursday, which prompted near-unanimous opinions from media pundits that the president failed to clear a low bar of expectations due in large part his hoarse voice and incoherent remarks.
"The bedwetting brigade is calling for Joe Biden to 'drop out.' That is the best possible way for Donald Trump to win and us to lose," Flaherty added, according to ABC News.
Only one in five respondents in an Ipsos poll of more than 2,500 likely voters taken after the debate called Biden's mental fitness "good" or "excellent."
Just one day after the debate, the Biden campaign responded to the panic forcefully, hosting fundraisers on both Friday and Saturday in which the president aimed to reassure his supporters that he could take on the former president in November.
"Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to, but ... I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong, and I know how to do this job," Biden said to a crowd of supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday. "I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up."
Another major factor that makes dropping out an improbability at this point is the fact that the president's millions of dollars in campaign cash cannot simply be transferred to a different candidate, unless that candidate is Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Flaherty's email comes as the New York Times editorial board even called on the president to step down for the sake of the nation this weekend, saying his debate performance was a "shadow of a great public servant."
Meanwhile, Biden has sought to own up to the shoddy curb appeal on display Thursday night despite his initial denial, saying, "It wasn't my best debate ever as Barack [Obama] pointed out," referencing the former president's comment in defense of Biden after the debate.
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The media commentariat largely professed that Trump's worst mistakes of the night were the unchecked claims he told onstage, but many suggested his remarks became an afterthought in light of Biden's unimpressive performance during the debate.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Biden campaign for comment.
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